​Was Alberto Del Rio Already Planning To Leave WWE?

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UPDATE x 2: It's interesting to note that during their release announcement on WWE.com, WWE did not wish Alberto Del Rio "the best in his future endeavors". That is pretty much confirmation that they are pissed off over whatever happened. We also believe that there is more to the slapping story that we posted about earlier and we're working to confirm that. Several sources believe something happened within the last day or two.

As previously reported, Del Rio's current WWE contract was set to expire within the next several months. While WWE was planning to re-sign him, he had been very open to friends and colleagues about possibly leaving WWE and heading back overseas to work in Mexico (likely AAA). Of course, that had nothing to do with his release as he was fired by the company. It wasn't his choice to leave on his own.

Some of you may remember that we reported the following here on the website on February 5th, 2014:

As noted earlier here on the website, there was talk backstage at Monday's WWERAW that Alberto Del Rio has been making noise about potentially leaving the company when his current WWE contract expires.

Apparently Del Rio has been frustrated after going from being a top guy on the SmackDown brand to what he considers to be someone simply being fed to Batista. A lot of the talk in the company is that due to Del Rio's age, him talking about retirement in the past and the fact that he has had a considerable amount of success and notoriety in Mexico, that maybe it's getting close to the time that he eventually walks away.

There is no definitive word at this point as to whether or not Del Rio has started working on a new contract, but there is at least a certain amount of concern over his future after the talk at RAW this past Monday night.

We'll keep you posted as we hear more. Stay tuned for more on this developing story ....

UPDATE: As we noted earlier this evening, Alberto Del Rio has been released from WWE for what the company described as "unprofessional conduct," as well as an "altercation with an employee."

It's worth noting that WWE.com has the Alberto Del Rio release story as their top headline right now. It's featured with a big photo of him headlined by "Breaking News: Alberto Del Rio" released. Normally when a release takes place, they tend to "hide" it in their news section or on the main page but below the main top stories. They also normally use the real name of the Superstar who has been released but that is not the case with Del Rio.

According to RF Video's Rob Feinstein, Del Rio was involved in a backstage incident at a recent WWE television taping. Feinstein claimed that Del Rio "had words" with a WWE employee who works for the company's social media department and allegedly slapped him.

It should be noted that we have been unable to confirm this rumor, so it should be taken as exactly that until further notice. We will continue to update you as more information surfaces regarding Del Rio's WWE release

Del Rio's final match with WWE would have been on this past week's WWE Main Event broadcast where he lost to Jack Swagger. He did not work the SmackDown TV tapings and also wasn't at WWE's live event in Melbourne, Australia earlier today.

We know that Del Rio's contract was expiring soon and there was talk that he was thinking about leaving the company.

More as we get it.

ORIGINAL:WWE announced today that Alberto Del Rio has been released. The short statement on WWE.com reads:

WWE announced the release of Alberto Del Rio due to unprofessional conduct and an altercation with an employee.

Obviously, more on this as it becomes available. Del Rio--real name Alberto Rodríguez--has been with WWE since June of 2010. He made his debut on the main roster on June 25th of that year, winning the WWE Title twice and the World Heavyweight Title twice.